EU fines Microsoft record $1.4bn — The European Commission has fined US computer giant Microsoft for defying sanctions imposed on it for anti-competitive behaviour. — Microsoft must now pay a record 899 million euros ($1.4bn; £680.9m) after it failed to comply with a 2004 ruling that it abused its position.

Apple planning iPhone SDK event March 6 — Apple distributed invitations Wednesday morning for “an iPhone software road map” event next week, which means we're finally going to hear details on the plans for an iPhone software development kit. — As you might be aware, next week is March …

Thinking About GOOG This Morning — On Monday, I bought some more GOOG (and some more AAPL). I explained my rationale for both trades in this twitter post. I went into even more detail on the Google purchase in this covestor post. — I was busy yesterday and not paying attention to techmeme …

AOL CEO Randy Falco: Microsoft-Yahoo a Mistake — Happy to Let Them Fight Google on Search and Leave Display Ads to Him — PHOENIX (AdAge.com) — AOL CEO Randy Falco thinks a potential merger between Microsoft and Yahoo to compete with Google is all about search — and a mistake.

Esther Dyson on The Coming Ad Revolution — Reston: Esther is going to invest in Dopplr, because sociality changes the way that advertising works: … I wrote years ago that in the future, all e-commerce would be socialized. Lools like we are about to pass over that horizon.

Launch plan update — We've made a couple of modifications to the launch plan detailed in this post. We've decided to have a pre-launch testing period in which we'll push just a few apps to production — this will likely happen next week. We are notifying the apps that will be in the directory …

Distributed Mass Customization: Is Etsy the Next eBay? — A lot of people scratched their heads when Etsy raised $27 million. What on earth? Handmade goods, that's about as low tech as you can get! — Then Umair Haque, a well respected blogger and strategist - albeit one who is known for being a bit …

‘Silicon womb’ to begin fertility trials — Trials of a “silicon womb” that holds test-tube embryos inside the womb to expose them to more natural conditions will shortly begin in the UK. Researchers say the new device may produce better quality embryos and reduce the need to harvest so many eggs from infertile women.

Panasonic Creates 3.5in LCD Viera TV Phone — As part of the revamp which saw Matsushita rebrand under its more familiar name Panasonic last week, the monolith organisation has released its first Viera-tagged TV focused mobile phone. — Dubbed the ‘P905iTV’, the handset certainly makes …

BREAKING: About.com CEO Scott Meyer To Leave — Scott Meyer, the CEO of About.com, part of New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), is leaving by next week, our sources say, and has been confirmed by the company. His last day will be Thursday next week. No replacement is being named now.

Nortel Posts Loss and Plans More Job Cuts — OTTAWA — Nortel Networks, the telecommunications company long plagued by bookkeeping troubles, reported a $957 million loss for 2007, largely because of a huge accounting adjustment. The company also said it would cut 2,100 jobs and move 1,000 others, mostly to China and Turkey.

Microsoft Enters Virtualization with Windows Server — Windows accounts for about two-thirds of shipments of computer-server operating systems, but Microsoft is considered a laggard in virtualization. — SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp released the latest version of its Windows operating system …